Apple’s HomePod Smart Speaker Finally Goes on Sale

Apple today announced that its home speaker, powered by its virtual assistant Siri, will go on sale on February 9.

The tech firm had first unveiled the HomePod at its World Wide Developer Conference in California in June 2017, promising that the device would be released by December.

However, the release of the product was delayed, with the company saying that “we need a little more time before it’s ready for our customers.”

The device will be available to pre-order from January 26 in United States, United Kingdom and Australia for $349. HomePod will go on sale in Germany and France this spring.

At just under 7 inches tall, HomePod can also read the news, translate phrases, play podcasts, send a message, set a timer, check the weather, traffic, and sports.

Amazon had launched its smart speaker Amazon Echo in 2014, while Google launched its own – Google Home – in November 2016.

Like its competitors, Apple’s HomePod can control smart home gadgets such as lights and respond to people’s questions using artificial intelligence, through its Siri Platform.

At just under 7 inches tall, HomePod can also read the news, translate phrases, play podcasts, send a message, set a timer, check the weather, traffic, and sports.

“HomePod is a magical new music experience from Apple. It brings advanced audio technologies like beam-forming tweeters, a high-excursion woofer, and automatic spatial awareness, together with the entire Apple Music catalog and the latest Siri intelligence, in a simple, beautiful design that is so much fun to use,” Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, said.

“We’re so excited for people to get HomePod into their homes, apartments, and businesses to hear it for themselves. We think they will be blown away by the audio quality. The team has worked to give Siri a deeper knowledge of music so that you can ask to play virtually anything from your personal favorites to the latest chart-topping releases, simply by saying ‘Hey Siri.’”

Besides other features, HomePod can also control a wide range of HomeKit smart home accessories.

Powered by Apple’s A8 chip, which was first introduced for the iPhone 6 in 2014, HomePod is compatible with iPhone 5s or later, or iPod touch (6th generation) with iOS 11.2.5 or later, iPad Pro, iPad mini 2, iPad Air or later, or later.